Pine-splinter test

The reaction of 2-amino-2-deoxy-D-glucose (D-glucosamine) with a dicarbonyl compound was carried out for the first time by Pauly and Ludwig,91 who were trying to discover how pyrrole rings in natural products are formed. They heated free D-glucosamine and ethyl acetoacetate on a steam bath and obtained a substance in which the presence of the pyrrole ring was demonstrated by the pine-splinter test. 

Carbazole, Analytical Procedures, Carbazole gives with isatin in coned sulfuric acid a blue coloration(Ref 1). As an indole derivative, it gives a positive "pine-splinter test (formation of a red color when a pine-splinter soaked in HCI soln is held in the vapor of an ale soln of carbazole)(Refs la, 2 8). Carbazole may also be identified by a bluish-green coloration produced when a trace of carbazole is dissolved in coned sulfuric acid and a drop of nitric acid is then added(Ref 8,p 72). Various other colorimetric tests for carbazole are known, such as described in Refs 1,1a,2,5 6 and Addnl Refs a,e,g,h m... 

Two C16H26N 2 compounds were also isolated from sparteine sulfate mother liquors as obtained in the purification of the plant extracts (271) which are apparently structural isomers of XCI. These compounds, [ ]d — 13.58° and 120.40° in ethanol, gave very strong pine splinter tests for the pyrrole ring. Moureu and Valeur (251) postulated that their isosparteine, [aj 25.0° in ethanol (picrate, m.p. 178°), obtained by a Hofmann degradation and reversal, also contained a methylpyr-rolidine ring. 

From such studies, Cohn, McMeekin, and Minot in 1930 (18, 19) believed that the active principle was a nitrogenous base, the nitrogen in which exists as in a secondary or tertiary amine. The low nitrogen content (10.8 per cent) appeared to exclude purine ot pyrimidine bases, but not ring compounds of the pyrrole or pyridine types. It seemed unlikely that it was a pyrrole because it gave no pine-splinter test characteristic of certain pyrroles. 

When the ammonium salt of saccharic acid or of mucic acid is heated, pyrrole is formed (SECTION 658). The latter imparts a carmine-red coloration to a pine-wood shaving which has been moistened with hydrochloric acid. Test the mucic acid obtained in this way as follows Mix 0.1 gram of the acid with 2 cc. of ammonia and evaporate to dryness. Heat the residue strongly in a test-tube during the heating suspend in the tube a soft pine splinter which has been soaked in concentrated hydrochloric acid for a minute or two. 

Most children know that wood splinters can cause serious problems when left embedded in a toe or finger. If not removed, splinters can cause infection and tumors may also occur. There are many examples of persons dying from tetanus caused by infected splinters. If a person s abdomen were opened and stuffed with wood splinters of calibrated sizes, this might serve as a test of hazards of wood splinters. It could be used to determine whether or not there is a difference between pine, ash, willow, and oak splinters when we imbed them in our chests between our lungs and pleural cavities. 

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